Northern Alliance League

Premier Division

Friday 8th October 2021

Kick Off 19.00 Actual 18.59

Newcastle Blue Star 4 Ponteland United 0, attendance 951 (official)

7’ 1-0

11’ 2-0

17’ 3-0

75’ 4-0

@ Scotswood Sports Centre

Denton Road

Scotswood

Newcastle upon Tyne

NE15 7HB

£3 Admission

£1 Programme, 8 pages, waste of money.

With the Saudi Arabian takeover at Newcastle United being announced this week, Newcastle Blue Star had a promotion offer whereby Newcastle United season ticket holders could gain free admission tonight. Even so, to pull in a crowd of 951 (announced over tannoy)at Step 7 is superb. Admittedly, many of those present would have watched very little of the match, and those that did would have struggled to get a decent view as it was packed. Social distancing was non-existent and It didn’t help that one end of the ground and a small section of each side was closed off to spectators. Even the parts of the ground that were open contained part built areas of cover, in a ground that is certainly being improved at a fair pace and will surely be hosting Northern League football next season.

The match was 2nd versus 12th in the league table. It didn’t last long as a contest. Blue Star were 3-0 up in just seventeen minutes, courtesy of an Ethan Bewley hat trick. Ponteland only managed a couple of half chances and never looked like getting anything from the game. Bewley scored his fourth goal of the night, with a deflected shot from the edge of the box, to make it 4-0 with fifteen minutes left. The game felt like it was lacking somewhat, but then you had to remind yourself just what level of football this actually is, as the ground and size of crowd made it feel of a much higher standard than it is.

Blue Star have reduced Killingworth’s lead at the top of the league table to five points, even if it is only until tomorrow afternoon, when the leaders play their match and could open the gap back up.